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At the end of May, Associate Administrator Joe DeLorenzo and Office of Program Oversight Director Hope Jensen attended the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) EXPO from May 21–24 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They both participated at the State Department of Transportation Roundtable. In addition, Associate Administrator Joe DeLorenzo spoke about the latest FTA safety updates and Director Hope Jensen discussed oversight reviews at standalone sessions.
Earlier this month, Associate Administrator Joe DeLorenzo and Safety Assurance & Risk Management Division Chief Valerie Beck participated at the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Rail Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. FTA spoke at sessions and panels, including the APTA Security and Emergency Management Roundtable, Grade Crossing Safety Workshop, Rail Transit Safety Committee Meeting and the Safety Management System/Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan, Safety Committees and U.S. DOT Safety Rules panel.
See the presentations from this event and other FTA conference presentations on FTA’s webpage.
Second TRACS Public Meeting Recap
The Transit Advisory Committee for Safety (TRACS) convened for a hybrid meeting earlier this month in Washington, D.C., at USDOT headquarters. The meeting was open to the public. During the meeting, TRACS subcommittees discussed their progress in three focus areas: reducing bus collisions; data, technology and cybersecurity; and advancing worker and rider safety. Guest speakers included Mineta Transportation Institute’s Scott Belcher, Amalgamated Transit Union’s Laura Karr and Pierce Transit’s Reggie Reese.
For more information, visit the TRACS webpage.
Recognizing 10 Years of the Office of Transit Safety & Oversight
FTA’s Office of Transit Safety and Oversight (TSO) commemorated its 10-year anniversary with an event for former and current TSO staff.
Former FTA Administrators, former TSO Associate Administrators and other special guests such as Deputy Secretary of Policy Scott Goldstein spoke at the event.
Associate Administrator Joe DeLorenzo kicked off the event and discussed all the hard work that went into starting an office dedicated to transit safety and the crucial role the office plays in the transit community. After his remarks, FTA Administrator Nuria Fernandez shared the history of TSO and the need for an office dedicated to safety and oversight.
Since TSO was established in 2013, the hard work and dedication of TSO staff have contributed to FTA's mission of transit safety and oversight. TSO's long-time employees reflected on programmatic achievements, the positive work environment and the next ten years of transit safety and oversight.
Tools for Implementing a Comprehensive Safety Training Program
The Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan (PTASP) regulation at 49 CFR § 673.29(a) (Part 673) requires applicable transit agencies to establish and implement a comprehensive safety training program, including refresher training as necessary, for all employees and contractors directly responsible for safety. Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, transit agencies that receive Section 5307 funding and serve one or more large urbanized areas (population of 200,000 or more) must ensure that the agency’s comprehensive safety training program includes:
- Maintenance personnel
- De-escalation training for maintenance personnel, operations personnel and personnel directly responsible for safety.
Comment Period Open for National Public Transportation Safety Plan Updates
On May 31, FTA published a Federal Register Notice regarding proposed changes to FTA’s National Public Transportation Safety Plan. The National Public Transportation Safety Plan is FTA’s primary guidance document to improve the transit safety performance on all federally supported public transportation systems that includes best practices, tools, technical assistance, voluntary standards and other resources. FTA’s proposed updates align with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s goal to make transportation systems safer for all people. The proposed updates would replace the original plan published in January 2017.
The National Public Transportation Safety Plan is open for public comment in the Federal Register for a 60-day comment period, concluding on July 31, 2023.
Safety training plays an important role in creating safer transit systems across America. The following list summarizes available safety training and resources offered through FTA and its partners. Training resources include:
Data Spotlight: Suicide Fatalities and Injuries, January 2017–December 2022
Reviewing the national safety data presented may help transit agencies analyze safety hazards in their systems and establish safety performance targets as a part of an Agency Safety Plan. This month’s spotlight covers National Transit Database (NTD) suicide fatality and injury data from January 2017 to December 2022.
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